Top Ten List
by ProfeJMarie
Summary: Short bits from Booth's Top 10 List about Brennan and vice versa which is instigated by Sweets to ease their increased bickering.  Season 5 feel.
1. Prologue

_**Prologue**_

Sweets has asked them to reflect upon the things that hold their partnership - their friendship - together. He thinks it will strengthen their bond and reduce their bickering, which has increased as of late.

Booth, of course, balks at the idea of having an essay assignment so Sweets mollifies him with simply making a list.

Oh, like a top ten list?

Right, Sweets agrees encouragingly.

Brennan objects to the number. Why must there be a specific number? There should be as many as are appropriate. It could be six or eleven.

Booth argues that it is nice to have a round, even number.

Brennan interjects with nine; nine is a better number, then, because it is a perfect square.

Booth scowls and Sweets convinces him to compromise with nine, which he does, but Sweets smiles as he can see that Booth will still come up with ten.


	2. 1 Truth and Honor

_**1. Integrity and Honor**_

She honors truth above all else. This honor with which she bestows on truth gives him security. She feels compelled to find the truth regardless of the consequences. He does not like to admit it, but he sometimes fears the truth, whereas she does not. Ever. Her honor to the truth provides him with a sense of decency, a reminder of his moral compass. Her dedication to the truth brings justice to the world. He takes pride in knowing that he offers a small part in helping with that process. She has told him that she would greatly benefit from an association with her and every day he feels that truth.

She recognizes that truth can cause pain and still does not shirk. He remembers the pain she has been through discovering the truth of her parents and how she persevered and pushed everyone else to do the same. She faced down her mother's murderer and then went on to confront the crimes of her father. She never runs away from truth. Well, almost never. Perhaps what strikes him most is how she honored the veracity of her feelings for her father, that ultimately, she honors the greater truth.

He likes that he can trust what she tells him. She does not lie to him and even though sometimes it comes out wrong, it still feels right, because there are no pretenses. He smiles as he realizes that it kills her to say so, but when she tells him he's better at something, he grins inside like his ten year-old son because he knows of her unfettered honesty. When she tells him he knows how to use intelligence or that his half-speed is better than another's full speed, he feels it to be true.

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He has a remarkable integrity. She knows that he is not always completely honest, but recognizes that complete honesty does not directly correlate with integrity. When he diverges from honesty it is only because he is trying to spare a family pain or not hurt someone's feelings. She has called that his "superpower" and almost believes it really is. She cannot help but be completely honest, but she values the integrity of his sensitive nature towards others. She has sometimes wondered if he tells her things to simply make her feel better, but when she looks into his eyes during those times, she _feels_ the sincerity in his words.

He believes in honor, truth, justice, the law, and his country. He devotes his life to making things right and looking after others and she likes that she plays a small part in his quest to making the world a better place. She feels safe knowing that he is in the world and that he is on her side.

He supports her and stands with her when she uncovers evidence, even when it doesn't fit the truth that he wants or that he hopes for. He pursues and defends even at the risk of his own happiness or his own life. She hopes that his integrity will one day help him recognize the truth of who he is as she sees it and has become engulfed in it.


	3. 2 Symmetry and Straight Talk

_**2. Symmetry and Straight Talk**_

He grins foolishly as he thinks of her latest mix-up of expressions and figures that it actually makes a good replacement that he can teach Parker. Jack_rabbit_ certainly makes for a cleaner insult and has the ring of foolishness that brings him back to when she flicked that voodoo freak down in New Orleans in the forehead. He wonders that there are still expressions that she does not know and secretly hopes that there always will be.

He knows that he sways between annoyance and amusement with her literal nature, but also realizes that when she is literal and expects everyone else to be equally so, she yields results. She is a straight shooter which, he chuckles to himself, is probably another expression she does not quite understand. He appreciates that she will "tell it like it is" without duplicity. He always knows where he stands with her; there are no guessing games. He does not always like hearing what she thinks, but admires it. And sometimes, what he does hear, amazes him.

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It would be disingenuous to say that she does not find him attractive. She has always found this to be true. She speaks words of his pleasingly symmetric face and the breadth of his shoulders, but she thinks _sexy_. His face is mature with his pronounced suborbital processes, broad angle of his jaw, sharp mandible, and his warm chocolate brown eyes. He is trim and in shape. His broad shoulders spoke of a strength she has seen demonstrated on numerous occasions.

Whereas he is pleasing to look at, his real attraction is the manifestations of his physicality. He walks with an easy confidence, saunters into a room oozing charm and audacity. He gives her a smile that fills his eyes and changes her mood. He can change his body language at the blink of an eye going from open, sympathetic, and trusting to protective, intimidating, or threatening. His face, while indeed pleasing to view, holds its real appeal in his expressions of mirth, understanding, joy, and compassion. The musculature of his arms, while undoubtedly alluring, exhibit their true pull when they circle around her and give her comfort and security.

She struggles to read people like he does and admits to her jealousy of it, but she has come to know him so well now that she has discovered that she can read _him_ and this gives her an inexplicable contentment.


	4. 3 Father and Protector

_**3. Father and Protector**_

He has always appreciated strong, intelligent women who can hold their own in the world, especially in his line of work. To say that his partner has his back feels like an understatement to how she watches out for him. While it is true that he doesn't want her to carry a gun it is not because she can't handle it, rather he does not want her to ever have to use it. He knows how he feels when he shoots someone and cannot bear to have her experience those same emotions.

She does know how to fire a weapon and make it count. His life at least twice saved proves this. She says it's okay, but he knows better. It is never okay, but he also knows she will never hesitate to do it again. They apprehend suspects together and though she is not a trained agent like he is, he knows that she can take a suspect down as effectively as he can. He never thought he wanted a partner, but he never knew that he could learn to trust another so completely with his life.

He remembers when she first told Sweets to back off after a rough case. Hearing the tone and words, he realized that she didn't just protect him physically, but could be counted upon for more than that. She listens to him. She helps him do the right thing.

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He is the father to Parker that his own father never was for him. She has heard Sweets say that he has buried rage and anger, but she has never seen him even raise his voice to Parker. Seeing him with his son reminds her of the times she can remember spending with her own father when she was young. She feels warm and loved.

Inasmuch as he excelled at his job or in the military, she feels that his strongest success lies in being a father. He wants what is best for his son, but does not realize that what Parker is learning most is how to be a good and honorable man like his father. He may not choose private schools or be able to fully enrich his son academically, but he models a life of integrity, sensitivity, strength, and compassion. The rest will come as it may and she is willing to be part of his "village".

She remembers his brain tumor and how just before the hospital he said he wanted to be involved. She dismissed it at the time for the greater concern of his health, but has not forgotten. Much has changed since then and though she is not entirely sure where her feelings are about having a child, anymore, she does not doubt what the result must be.


	5. 4 Genius and Cocky

_**4. Genius and Cocky**_

Without a doubt, she is a genius, but not in the way most people think she is. Sure, she holds multiple degrees and can speak to just about anything, but that is just an innate gift of hers. The real genius is how she uses it to make the world a better place. She is the best in her field and she doesn't keep her gifts to herself. She goes to war-torn places on her _vacations_ to help loved ones find closure in their losses. She brings peace back to families who have never known truth. She helps him right the world of all of the wrongs by bringing murderers to justice.

She is a genius and without her logic, her rational thought, he would miss things and spin his wheels coming up with the answer, the key to the solution. She can pull information from all corners of her brain and find the final clue. She can listen to the other geniuses around her and know exactly what they're talking about. She can make it so he understands, too.

She is a genius and sometimes he feels dumb around her, but not because of anything she does or says. She is matter-of-fact about what she knows and does not tease him for not knowing. He loves that he can ask her anything and trust that what she says is right. She collects data, evidence, artifacts - and catalogs it all to come to her conclusions which means when she says he is a good father or that he is made of "good stuff", he feels he can believe it.

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He wears the cocky belt buckle and it suits him, but not in the way he thinks it does. He is good at what he does and he knows it, but this is not cocky. She respects him more for it. If she is the best at what she does and he is the best at what he does, they are a logical match. He is sexually confident, but this is not cocky, either. An attractive, confident man should easily find partners to satisfy biological urges.

He is cocky in his knowledge about her. Sometimes she is floored by how he knows her so well, but other times it scares her just enough to prove him wrong and do something that does not fit into what he thinks he knows. He is cocky about the goodness in people; she wishes she can believe in the world like he does, that the majority of the people around them act with pure intentions.

He is cocky, but he doesn't know the ways in which he is truly overconfident. He strives to balance evil with good, believing that what he does now, with her, will set the world right, that it will atone for the lives he's taken – the lives he cannot forgive himself for even though he has helped make the world a better place for it. He is overconfident in his ability to protect her and those around them from pain and suffering, wanting to be in all places at all times. In spite of the consequences, she relies on his cockiness.


	6. 5 Knight and Warrior

_**5. Knight and Warrior**_

She is a warrior and that is _hot_ He cannot deny the sexual attraction he feels when he sees her take someone down physically or dress someone down verbally. He cannot deny his own desire to defend her, but also feels imminently reassured that she can take care of herself. She is strong and fiercely independent. He worries over how she jumps into unknown situations where danger is involved, but is forcibly drawn to this aspect of her personality.

She has survived abandonment and hellish foster care situations and come out of them with a strength unmatched by any other woman he has known. She can control a room with her mere presence and when she speaks everyone listens. She knows what she wants and plunges forward until she gets it. He chuckles and shakes his head as he remembers hearing about how she took down the Homeland Security officer in the airport six years ago and how she subsequently made herself an indispensable resource.

She carries her weight when they are out in the field. He still feels surprise, sometimes, when he considers how he never thought he would want to work with someone and now he cannot imagine not having her as his partner. He knows that she does not need him, but could never have guessed how much he would need her.

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Sweets says that he has some sort of White Knight syndrome and while she doesn't hold with his psychology, she has often likened Booth to a literary knight – a chivalrous gentleman. He helps her on and off with her coats, guides her with his hand gently at the small of her back or casually around her arms, pours her drinks, brings her dinner.

An amused smile slips across her lips when she thinks of how they crash through doors together. She does not know why this particular act, the idea of letting her pass through first, does not fall within his purview of chivalrous behaviors. Perhaps it his mantra of "gun-first" that is part of his instinct, even in non-threatening situations.

She can take care of herself and has done so all of her life, but unaccountably her heart quickens when he moves in between her and a potential threat, presses someone who acts or speaks insultingly towards her or another woman, or fires his weapon and hits exactly what he was aiming for. As aggressively knightly as he is in these situations, she still appreciates the sensitive gestures – his hand under her chin, the "guy hugs" that she knows are anything but, and the phone calls to ensure she is safe.


	7. 6 Adventure and Charm

_**6. Adventure and Charm**_

She's smart, serious, and literal, which makes her adventurous side that much more surprising and thrilling. He's done undercover work before, but with her it is, well, _fun_. When she takes on a role, she becomes that new person. Like everything else in her life, she approaches it with maximum effort. She pushes the limits and stuns him with her tenacity.

She does not always understand his references or his jokes, but she laughs anyway and tries her own. She does not realize that she does not have to try so hard, that when she relaxes and "goes with the flow", she gets it all completely right. He has a soft spot for her attempts to do more, though and finds himself smiling later in the day as he remembers those moments.

There are not many people he is completely uninhibited with; she is one of them. They sing together, dance, debate, joke, and laugh. She jumps into things and amazes him with her talents – he catches his breath as it hits him, suddenly, with how many she has. And yet, she says she only wants to work with him.

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He is all about charm. She considers synonyms for the word and falls upon attractiveness, appeal, magnetism, and charisma. These all sum him up. She inserted herself into his life because she wanted to make a difference, to have a greater purpose. She has discovered since then that her own expertise alone does not achieve this purpose; he has a skill set that is beyond her reach. Where once she coveted this skill set to be her own, now she wishes for it, but only if it means learning from him and working with him.

That is his appeal. The ability to draw her in and teach her what he knows and how he knows it. He is patient and sometimes makes it a game, which she finds amusing, but it reflects his personality so well. With that inviting smile he asks her to make a guess. C'mon, guess! Play along! In the lab she does not allow such conjecture from those around her so in his environment she enjoys the game; she enjoys the moment that he allows her to feel that she is not saddled down with the life she has had, but instead the boyish optimism that he shares with everyone around him.

His charisma has reeled everyone in. They are captivated by the purpose that he brings for them all to be together. His charm has shown her that she has family; however, _he_ is the one family member that she might not be able to live without.


	8. 7 Beauty and Smile

_**7. Beauty and Smile**_

Quite simply, she is beautiful. She knows she is attractive, but he suspects that she does not know that she is truly beautiful. She carries herself with a confident grace. Sometimes highly intelligent people are clumsy, perhaps because they are always lost in their minds, but this is not the case with her.

He could describe her skin, her eyes, her hair – all of which are extraordinary, but there is so much more to her than that. Her beauty is in the casual way she carries it and how it takes second place to what she truly values. She might say that she would have more success than other women in the world because of her appearance coupled with her intelligence, but he feels that she is successful because of her confidence. She is insecure in her relationships and uncertain with whom she can count on to stay in her life, but she exudes an incredible poise and conviction in all that she does.

She doesn't need him to tell her these things about her, but he likes it when the opportunity arises that allows him to do so.

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His eyes crinkle whenever he smiles – any kind of smile. And he smiles a lot. She would like to think that his "charm" smile had no impact on her, but it is all too effective which annoys her. His smile takes over his entire face and imprints into her memory of him when she needs to conjure an image.

More importantly, though, is how that smile makes her feel. He may smile his broadest, joyful one and she feels like she has been enveloped and that she has known him forever. He gives her a half-cocked smile and she knows that he is trying to make her laugh or share a joke. Sometimes she catches the first glimmers of a smile and she knows it is one that he is ready to share only with her. This is the smile that she can see in his eyes, first.

His smile allows everyone in and she remains continually envious of this trait that she feels she lacks. She does not have the same welcoming personality and values the results of his ability to win someone over with a smile, even when it is her.

Most of all, she feels a part of his world when he smiles at her and this makes her feel wanted in this world.


	9. 8 Brain and Heart

_**8. Brain and Heart**_

She may call it simply a muscle and seem to humor him when she uses "metaphorical" in front of the word when they talk of love, generosity, and compassion, but in spite of this exterior front, he knows that she is aware of her heart and all that it is capable of.

She says that he is the heart person, but she's wrong - as wrong as she is about having an open heart. His is closed, only truly open for one person while hers is open to everyone. It was not he who reunited those foster kids with their mother. It was not he who funded a scholarship for his intern. It was not he who re-built a bridge so that a community could re-vitalize itself. It was not he who so easily opened up and adopted Sweets into their family. She leads with her brain, but acts with her heart.

The heart is a muscle. It expands and contracts. His eyes float up to the left as he works out a new theory. Perhaps she is thinking literally in that if she expands it too far, all at once, that it will be too much for her circulatory system. There is surely some medical condition for overlarge hearts; he's pretty sure he has seen something about it on The Learning Channel. Her heart expands to take foster baby Andy, but must contract again in self-preservation. It swells and in pumps the father that abandoned her; expands the next time and restores the life and dignity of each of their victims. Perhaps he simply must wait until the next time her heart expands and he is there, ready to take another piece of him into it until she must contract. And perhaps one day, her heart will expand and accept that last piece of him and he will be whole again since the day she first expanded and took in that very first sliver.

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People say she's the brain, but they're wrong. She is intelligent, but he is extraordinary in how he uses his intelligence. He looks at all angles of a case, not just the ones spelled out in front of him. He listens to Hodgins' conspiracy theories, Angela's psychics, and all of the psychological nonsense from Sweets and makes it all work. He believes her when she knows something and cannot prove it with physical evidence because he knows her logic is sound.

He can sense when someone is lying or when a person's voice rings true. He recognizes the facts that she presents him with each case and joins them with his own facts that she cannot recognize. He is a sponge for knowledge; he holds information from popular culture, history, government, and now, science.

He tells her she's a genius and it makes her feel valued rather than isolated. He knows just what to say to people and when to say it. He remembers their names, their children's names, what they like to do, and where they've been. No victim is faceless or nameless – each one is in his memory. He looks into her eyes and he knows what she is thinking, _feeling_. She teaches him about the world around them, but he teaches her about _her_ world; _their_ world.


	10. 9 Eyes

_**9. Eyes**_

They know each other so well that sometimes they do not even need to speak. Without words they can know when one or the other is in pain, in deep sadness, or angry. Without words they recognize joy, humor, or excitement. Her eyes are grey, green, and blue. How can it be possible that one person's eyes can hold so many colors at once? It is enough to hold him still.

When he needs encouragement or reassurance, sometimes she tries to say the right thing and does not always succeed, but when he looks into her eyes it doesn't matter because they tell him what she could not and he no longer needs her words.

Her eyes will flash with anger, narrow in frustration, tilt in confusion, and widen in concern. He is lost deep within them with no real hope of finding his way out – or true desire to do so.

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They know each other so well that sometimes they do not even need to speak. Without words they can know when one or the other is in pain, in deep sadness, or angry. Without words they recognize joy, humor, or excitement. His eyes are a milk chocolate brown and she sinks into their warm, comforting depths.

When words are not enough he looks at her and she can feel the compassion and understanding for what she is going through. He may say he understands, but when she looks in his eyes, she _knows_ he does. She doesn't even know how he does, but his eyes convey it all.

She feels safe and secure in his eyes. She is no longer the lost, abandoned young girl, no longer the awkward teenager, or the cold scientist. Instead she is the happy, inquisitive young girl, the capable, intelligent student, and the scientist who brings faces and dignity back to the victims.

His eyes will flash with anger, narrow in frustration, squint in confusion, and penetrate hers in concern. She is lost deep within them with no real hope of finding her way out – or true desire to do so.


	11. Epilogue

_**Epilogue**_

They sit in their usual spots, holding their lists. They are quiet, conspicuously so, but not upset. They seem almost shy around each other, stealing only quick, furtive glances. Sweets risks observing for as long as possible as these moments are often the most revealing about these two.

Booth is the more fidgety of the pair, which is not atypical, as he does not like to sit still, in quiet. Brennans says it is because he gets bored, but he knows that this reason is not the whole story. Sitting in quiet with yourself forces introspection and he knows that Booth struggles with what he sees. Brennan remains calmer, although he senses a disquieting mood.

Sweets breaks the silence by asking them if they completed their lists. Booth maintains character by offering a mocking comment regarding their homework. Brennan matches by indicating that she feels that it was an unnecessary exercise, but found it an easy enough task to accomplish.

Booth asks if she came up with nine items after all.

Actually, she says, she settled on ten.

Booth gives a slow smile and the teasing commences.

Sweets does not ask them to share their lists. Inasmuch as he would love to see what they wrote, this is not the purpose. In fact, he smiles to himself, it is clear to him that the goal has clearly come to fruition.


End file.
